How About a Bahraini Apartheid Week?

Can you imagine the outrage if Israel treated Israeli Arabs and Palestinians the same way Kristof describes Bahrain’s Sunni elite treating Shias?

There’s a fear of the rabble, a distrust of full democracy, a sense of entitlement. Apartheid isn’t exactly the right metaphor, because there isn’t formal separation (although neighborhoods are often either Sunni or Shia), and people routinely have very close friends of the other sect. But how can a system when 70 percent of the population is not eligible for the army be considered fair? How can a system in which the leading cabinet positions are filled by one family be considered fair?

The government talks about “unity” and complains that the opposition is encouraging sectarianism. Please! An American friend was on the roundabout Thursday morning when police attacked. They caught him but when they saw he was American they were friendly and said they were hunting Shia only. My friend said the experience left him feeling icy, as if they were hunting rats. And several people I talked to who were there said that the police used anti-Shia epithets and curses as they were beating prisoners.

Bahraini discrimination’s a good talking point for Israel Apartheid Week — coming soon to a campus near you.

After all, the hypocritical Boycott-Divestment-Sanctions (BDS) movement is more interested in bashing Israel than social justice. So don’t hold your breath waiting for a Bahraini Apartheid Week.